After a recent lightning storm killed one of our Netgear WNR3500 Routers, I had to go on the hunt again for a replacement. I am a fan of DD-WRT firmware and have been running it for several years, so I was looking for an open source compatible router. I originally had a Linksys WRT54GL, which is a true work horse, however it is only 802.11 B & G compatible. This was the reason for the upgrade to the WNR3500 after all. I’ve also always been partial to Linksys & Netgear product for consumer level networking equipment.
After doing some research I was brought to the doorstep of the Buffalo AirStation WZR-HP-G300NH. Now I’ve read a lot of good things about the Buffalo product line (all good) and have seen some of their NAS equipment in the field. I was impressed that the WZR-HP-G300NH actually shipped with a Buffalo branded version of DD-WRT. Most routers, like the WRT54GL are upgradeable to the DD-WRT firmware but ship with their own interface to begin with.
Buffalo Technology AirStation High Power N300 Gigabit Wireless Router & AP WZR-HP-G300NH (Black)
Setup was very straight forward. There was some config changes I made for our local network. I also went in and setup 2 SSIDs, one for internal use and one for guest use. The Guest SSID is set to not allow guest access to our internal network to prevent access to networked resources.
Also available on the stock DD-WRT firmware is the ability to easily turn the router into a HotSpot (Paid or free) with your choice of using a Sputnik, HotSpotSystem.com, Wifidog or Chillispot account.
The tech specs include an Atheros AR9132 400mhz cpu, 64MB Ram & 802.11 B/G/N.1X 10/100/1000 WAN Port, 4x 10/100/1000 LAN Ports and 1 USB Port.
The router is said to support the use of a USB 3G card for connectivity, however at this time I have not tested it out.
I have had the router up and running for a week now with no complaints and no need for a reboot yet. I will continue to use and recommend this product and will update with new features and stats as I become aware.
-Bill Howarth
http://www.EverythingPC.co